Snow Foam

[carburettoricing]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 06 June 2018 at 17:37

[Commander2874]

Hi mate

First thing get yourself the best snowfoam which is bilt hamber auto foam.
Rinse car first and then apply the foam and allow to dwell for 10 mins before rinsing off.

Def wash the car or leave it to naturally dry. I would not recommend drying it after just a snowfoam. This will cause swirls

[carburettoricing]

Thanks pal.

The more I research the more I'm shying away from the thought of even touching the car when cleaning, particularly as it's black so every little thing will show up, lots of articles suggesting if you have to dry it use a really soft microfibre to pat dry, not scrub.

Just watched a few videos of people using leaf blowers to forcibly air dry, sound sensible?

Rinse/snow foam/10 minutes/rinse/air blow dry?

Considering taking it to a professional detailer to get it washed, waxed and sealed to protect the clearcoat and paint, and from then on washing it myself via the snow foam method. Good idea or overkill? Or even insufficient?

Edited by carburettoricing on Wednesday 18th April 17:51

[Dolf Stoppard]

I like snow foam but you still need to wash after using it. I actually like the Demon Shine snow foam which you stick on the end of a hose.

I have a dedicated blower for drying the car. But I am generally too scared to use it. People walk past and look at me like I'm 'special' when I do.

[carburettoricing]

This look alright then?



I'll use up the prokleen stuff and then upgrade to the Bilt Hamber once it's empty.

I'm thinking

1) Pressure wash
2) TFR - Wheels/Arches/Lower body where it picks the mud and straw and st up off the country roads
3) Pressure rinse the TFR off about a minute later, can't leave it on too long
4) Snow foam application
5) Tea/10 minutes
6) Rinse
7) Microfibre towel pat dry
8) Little bit of detailer spray application with the small microfibre cloths to finish

I appreciate the need to still do a manual wash, the foam/TFR is to remove contaminants to stop scratches/swirls when you start to physically drag cloths over the car, but given I'm driving down country roads I can't at the moment see the point of spending hours hand washing when it'll get dirty soon after. The quick spray applications of TFR/foam and finishing with the detail spray for a bit of shine on the upper body/bonnet and then drying to stop water spots will do me as it'll take 20 minutes of little effort rather than ages of manual cleaning but will still look lovely. (Hopefully!)

Only had it 5 days so won't be needing to get as obsessive as using small detail brushes or specific alloy/window cleaning gear for a few months yet.

Good plan?

Edited by carburettoricing on Wednesday 18th April 21:46

[steve-5snwi]

Forget the TFR, just get the auto foam.

[PapaJohns]

Forget snow foam gimmick IMO

[Jbliss]

snow foam is not a replacement for a good 2 bucket wash. It wont clean the car quite as youre expecting and youll end up pushing dirt around the car if you just snow foam and dry with towel

[carburettoricing]

Suppose I could graft a manual clean every so often.

Better?

[juice]

We live in the country and the LR is generally filthy a lot of the time, so I spend quite a lot of time keeping on top of it...Because of this I do 'lazy' cleaning using Gyeon products

BH Korrosol for the wheels

Gyeon snow foam
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000007.pl...

Gyeon Bathe plus
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000007.pl...

Gyoen Wetcoat (sprayed on and spread with a wash mitt, then rinsed off)
http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000007.pl...

Then out comes the leaf blower and the car is dried off. Gets it 90% of the way there.

[Blue62]

Another vote for Gyeon bathe and wet coat, outstanding products but don't wash the car in sunlight or let either product dwell for too long or you will get marring, especially on a black car. Quick detailer with elbow grease will remove the marks, but best to avoid if you can.

Personally I wouldn't bother with foam, it's a nice idea but in my experience (I've tried a few including Bilt) it doesn't do enough to justify the cost or time.

[GregK2]

Jbliss said:

snow foam is not a replacement for a good 2 bucket wash. It wont clean the car quite as youre expecting and youll end up pushing dirt around the car if you just snow foam and dry with towel

Dolf Stoppard said:

I like snow foam but you still need to wash after using it.

Very much this.

[juice]

Blue62 said:

Another vote for Gyeon bathe and wet coat, outstanding products but don't wash the car in sunlight or let either product dwell for too long or you will get marring, especially on a black car. Quick detailer with elbow grease will remove the marks, but best to avoid if you can.

Personally I wouldn't bother with foam, it's a nice idea but in my experience (I've tried a few including Bilt) it doesn't do enough to justify the cost or time.

In the spirit of testing, I broke out the lot this morning and did my FL2. It had a blast of TFR last week due to the wet weather as a very quick clean-up job so it basically has no protection...

Gyeon Snow foam and Korrosol on the wheels




Oscar, my WireHaired Vizsla wanted to help


This was rinsed, then onto the Bathe Stage - 1st time I touched the car physically



Rinsed again then onto wetcoat, 1 panel at a time and then second time I touched the car.. Wetcoat was spread with a washmit and left for 1 minute then rinsed off.

Nice beading now.





Then I did actually break out the leaf blower to dry off the car as the water was beading well and just rolling off. Didn't really need the microfibre at all to complete the drying.

Ended up like this.





I reckon this took me about 45 mins from start to finish and I now have a protected car with very little effort on my part. Gyeon is my fave thing ever !

[Dolf Stoppard]

If you snow foam the car but don't then wash it before drying / applying QD, you're simply moving muck around and creating the very problem you seem to want to avoid.

Snow foam, two bucket wash, rinse and dry while using some QD once a week will be fine. 45 minutes or so once you get used to doing it. Polish / wax every three months to make your weekly wash as painless as possible.

No need to spend loads on products. I've been there and done it, which is why I have a special blower, rotary polisher, and a reputation with the neighbours. It really can become a sickness!

Some products are easier to use than others, some deliver better results than others. But for me, most products deliver similar results, despite prices varying wildly.

The exception is probably ceramic coatings which are well worth considering. But even then, no need to spend a fortune.

[carburettoricing]

"Snow foam, two bucket wash, rinse and dry while using some QD once a week will be fine."

That's what I'll be doing, with a TFR application first to take a stab at the baked on crap on the bottom surfaces.

Going forward, not sure about the polishing/waxing, having not done it before I will no doubt fk it up which won't be ideal on a brand new car that doesn't actually belong to me! There's a private detailing place I know of, might see if the guy sells training days.

In terms of the Gyeon wet coat thing, that looks quite interesting, like it would be a quick and easy way to take a stab at replacing a manual hand wax? Would the correct sequence be, in my case, TFR - Foam - careful hand wash - wet coat spray on - hand dry with microfibre - QD maybe to touch up certain spots?


See what you mean about it being a sickness, I have just bought a ridiculous amount of stuff from Amazon....

[blueg33]

Another recommendation for Bilt Hamber shampoo, you need a tiny amount and it works very well.

I have used various snow foams, but would avoid the cheap stuff that focusses on being cherry flavoured or whatever. I like the GTECNIQ one and Bilt Hamber is ok. I have been recommended Blizzard Snowfoam by Obsession wax and will try it in a week or two.

[Summit_Detailing]

carburettoricing said:

"Snow foam, two bucket wash, rinse and dry while using some QD once a week will be fine."

Would the correct sequence be, in my case, TFR - Foam - careful hand wash - wet coat spray on - hand dry with microfibre - QD maybe to touch up certain spots?

TFR pre soak, Foam, Rinse, 2 bucket wash, rinse, wet coat, rinse, dry....job done.

cheers

Chris

[hixster]

I’ve used a few snow foam and tried the autoglym for the first time today. Very good, really thick and takes a while to drip off.

Have also used their Magna product for the first time to remove iron particles from wheels and bodywork, all in all very good.


[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/VxwAxVGH[/url]

[Mr2Mike]

The Pro-kleen stuff works very well. I use it on my car every weekend and even if you don't do anything else the car looks great.

[fourstardan]

By the looks of drives/cars on this post im surprised you don't have a butler cleaning them